Serge MANSON

Art(s) : Painting.
Mouvement(s) : Abstract.

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Criticism

To imagine that abstract art does not require a mastery of drawing would be overwhelmingly naïve. Those who, through ignorance, yield to this belief very quickly come to realise that painting demands more than simply arranging colours chaotically across a blank surface. Opting for abstraction does not mean simply renouncing to reproduce reality through tried and tested methods, but reflects a desire to escape figurative norms and the limits that they impose upon our imagination. It is not possible to paint abstract art by accident or by a lack of technical mastery. Having practiced drawing assiduously for many years (he has devoted the last fifteen years to live nude studies), Serge Manson knows that a composition, whether figurative or not, cannot be the fruit of chance alone, even if the latter can sometimes play a part in the creative process.

Not regarding every painting as straightforward and destined to be kept, the painter does not hesitate to destroy that which fails to satisfy him. Disconcerting at first sight, his unique world plunges us into a multidimensional space. Even if he reveals a certain propensity for “warm and welcoming backgrounds,” Serge Manson inserts into his pieces two or three levels of reading or “obstacles” that are curiously superimposed (and symbolic). The result for the observer is several overlapping layers or planes of study. The artist aims to place them whilst avoiding overcrowding and rash gestures. He must constantly take care to strike a balance between emptiness and fullness, shape (shapelessness) and light. In his youth, Serge Manson displayed a passion for science and technology that he has never given up. It was then that he resolutely sided with modernity. Later on, as a teacher of technical drawing, he expertly drew on the potential of the drawn line to be an ally of structured thought. Also a dab-hand at photography, everything concerning images was naturally going to interest him.

During the creative process, Serge Manson ensures he “leaves spaces for the eye to move around. I take into account the nomadic nature of the modern world in my approach,” he explains. “There is always a foreigner, a stranger, deep inside each of us,” he hastens to add. For him, art should be concerned with giving that self a voice and allowing it to confront the familiar part of our being (or others). Life “consists of sorrows and gems alike,” and as such represents a universal resource; a reason to exchange and communicate with our own kind. The wish of the painter is that we linger on his artwork and use it as a means to ponder the meaning of existence. Often working flat, he circles round the canvas where the unfamiliar takes shape, creating from nothing a space suspended between two infinite points. Quite the metaphysical quest!

Luis PORQUET, writer - art critic